lions den to musgrave
Monday, August 3, 2009 at 11:08PM Another big day of dirt ahead of us so we were once again up early and on the road by 7.30. We slipped out of the lions den and headed for cooktown for breakfast, fuel and a bit of a look around. On the way we stopped to look at black mountain (kalkajaka) which is an incredible pile of black granite rocks that look like they have been very neatly put there.
the amazing black mountain
From there to cooktown and into the bakery for bacon and egg rolls and coffee, then fuel and up grassy hill to the lookout. after that it was into cooktown proper for a bit of a squizz and a visit to the spot where captain cook beached the endevour to repair the hull.
the view from grassy hill
cooktown harbour
That done we were off again, heading for laura via battle camp road and a section of the lakefield national park.
This section of dirt was very different to the bloomfield, it was very dusty, corrogated and exposed us to our first taste of sand, not a very pleasant experience. It seems that when the bikes hit sand they pretty much go where they want to. Keeping the power on helps to stay upright but direction still seems to be arbitry. As the big fella found out, it is also necessary to turn off the abs and traction control, sadly he found this out the hard way by putting his bike down, fortunately at very low speed so there was very little in the way of damage.
With our new found respect for sand, we cautiously headed off again.
The first creek crossing of the day was at isabella falls, it was a pretty straightforward crossing and a very pretty spot. There were two more crossings after that but they were both small and easy.
isabella falls
the big fella crossing isabella falls
With a quick stop at the old laura homestead we were then on to laura for lunch and a bit of a break as it was warm (26.5˚C) and it was quite hard work on the bikes and a high level of conentration was requried. Laura was like so many of the other little townships we have been through, full of character and colourful locals who are always up for a chat and full of handy advice.
the old laura homestead
laura general store
After lunch it was onto the penninsular development road to musgrave for some real fun and games. People talk about the corragations but they are nothing compared to the sand. It's fine, deep, hard to see and extremely hard to ride through even when you do have the abs and traction control off. The big fella and i had our own little moments, both at about 80km/h and both were remarkably close to ending badly. I ended up in the soft deep stuff at the edge of the road and came within a foot of marrying one of the small white posts. Quite an adrenaline surge and really scary. The big guy caught some deep stuff in the middle and was lucky to come out the other side still upright. So from then on we were very cautious indeed.
By the time we got to musgrave in the late afternoon we were very, very glad to get off the bikes. We organised a room for ourselves, had a shower and headed over to the roadhose for dinner, a well earned beer and to discuss what lay ahead of us.
musgrave roadhouse
Our exact location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-14.7804,143.5037&ll=-14.7804,143.5037&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
We had heard that there had been a variety bash event further up the road and that the road was in very ordinary condition with lots of sand. Given that neither of us had had a great time on the road to musgrave, we decided that if the road was worse further up, the chance of damaging ourselves or the bikes or both was very high. So the decision was made that less is more and a change of plan was required. We decided to head back to cains and go across the savannah way to karumaba then to normanton through to hells gate and on to daly waters.
Decision made it was on to the more serious business of eating dinner which was, without doubt, the largest piece of steak i've ever seen. The roadhouse eating area is in the underneath section of an old queenslander which had a great atmosphere which was made better for us by watching the raiders decimate the broncos 56 zip.
Reader Comments (5)
Hi boys
I'm enjoying reading the blog. My parents used to live at Lakeland so I can imagine the trip around this area. Isn't Black Mountain amazing!
Take care in that sand/bull dust!
Wow, what an exciting trip and such beautiful places. I love reading the blog, sort of feels like I'm having a holiday as well! Ride safely and watch out for the posts!
Hey Russ mate
Been following every post and enjoying each one more than the last cant wait too see all the pics and hear bout it over a beer or two but think that might be a while coming.
Well done on the amazing blog so far, reading it has made me miss both home and travelling at the same time which is a weird sensation, but keep it up i no your having an absolute ball.
Much interest, intrigue, admiration and respect man
Benny
Quitters!
Told you to get the KTM, but no, you know better!
G'Day Fellas,
Haven't heard from you in a while. Is all OK? No doubt you're somewhere west of Uckerkabunga and outside phone range. Hope the bulldust is behind you.
AB - Don't forget that amazing lake and camping area (Lake Woods) I told you about, South of the Route 87 turnoff at Daly Waters and Elliott. See:
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?utm_campaign=en_AU&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en_AU-ha-apac-au-bk-gm&utm_term=google%20maps
Glad you went through the CREB Track and stayed at the Lions Den.
Hope you are both well and still living the dream.
Regards
(Mack from Tamworth)